10.07.07
Posted in politics at 3:55 pm by kevin
Democracy in a Chinese classroom
Those of you that know me personally are probably well aware of my ambivalence toward children. (Yeah, I said it - I don’t like kids; take that, social convention). My horror at this article, however, has nothing (well, little) to do with that.
After all, it’s not the intrinsic qualities of the kids profiled in the piece that make them such conniving little bastards, but rather the system that makes everyone want to be a corrupt bureaucrat. It’s not a long piece, so I’ll just suggest you read about the little would-be apparatchiks rather than reading my recap.
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09.21.07
Posted in politics at 10:44 pm by kevin
Mandela still alive after embarrassing Bush remark
Despite the fabulous headline, I have to - shockingly - defend El Presidente here. What he said, specifically was:
I heard somebody say, Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas,
It’s fairly obvious that Bush was referring to an archetypal figure, and not Nelson Mandela literally. He was making the - reasonably defensible - claim that Iraq doesn’t have a Mandela-like unifying figure because Saddam killed most or all of the potential aspirants. I’m not sure how the quote could be seriously interpreted as Bush claiming that Saddam actually killed Nelson Mandela. I mean, would it be clearer if Bush had said - complete with “air quotes”:
Well, “Mandela” [motion air quotes] is dead…
Or, for the hard-of-analogy:
Well, all the potential inspirational and unifying figures resembling South Africa’s still very much alive Nelson Mandela are dead…
Really, this guy says plenty of stupid shit - this is the best you could do?
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Posted in religion, entertainment, politics at 12:17 am by kevin
‘God’ responds to legislator’s lawsuit
Well played, God. But how will you handle discovery?
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08.19.07
Posted in politics at 2:50 pm by kevin
Syrian diplomat in U.S. writes blogs
I’ve actually met the ambassador at JSA functions, and he’s an exceptionally charismatic guy (not altogether shocking - I imagine that’s sort of one of the selection criteria for the job). But reading the blog, I couldn’t help but be awed by the breadth of subject matter (for example, the post about Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir. Say what you will, this isn’t your standard diplo-speak.
Of course, no amount of ambassadorial charm can vindicate a regime responsible for Hama and countless other atrocities. But the blog’s very existence, to say nothing of the subject matter, raises the question of whether Syria is a likely candidate for a Lybia-style strategic about-face.
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10.21.06
Posted in politics at 11:02 am by kevin
Two articles (well, one column and one article) from a few weeks ago have put sentencing (federal sentencing in particular, but much of the analysis applies to states) in stark relief:
Chaos in Sentencing
Cook the Books, Get Life in Prison: Is Justice Served?
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Posted in religion, politics at 9:37 am by kevin
Dalits in conversion ceremony
In essence, growing numbers of India’s “untouchables” are figuring out that Hinduism isn’t really too hot for them. The most interesting part, though, comes in the last section, which talks about various states’ reactions to Dalit conversions:
The states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have all passed laws restricting conversions.
Gujarat has reclassified Buddhism and Jainism as branches of the Hindu religion, in an attempt to prevent conversions away from Hinduism eroding the BJP’s bedrock support.
This, of course, follows the time-honored political tradition of redefining defeat as victory.
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09.28.06
Posted in education, politics at 4:50 pm by kevin
ALA: Banned Books Week
It’s been a busy week, so I haven’t had time to blog as much as I’d like… however, right now I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that this week is my favorite of the “theme” weeks: namely, it’s Banned Books Week!
The American Library Association has a ton of great resources (linked above) - peruse them at your leisure. Fodder for comments: how many of the top 100 have you read?
PS - a note, the necessity of which both saddens and amuses me greatly: for the purposes of the above question, Where’s Waldo? counts as one book, no matter how many in the series you have read.
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09.26.06
Posted in politics at 9:39 pm by kevin
Women hit glass ceiling in N.J. politics
Yeah, but the candidate featured in the article - Linda Stender - is one of the women that actually has a shot at a congressional seat. And as a bonus, she’s actually from my hometown of Scotch Plains, NJ!
Man, it would be great if I actually liked my Congressman - which, since the time I came to political consciousness (sometime in high school, I’d say), would be a first.
Note to self (and to all): remember to vote!
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Posted in politics at 9:13 pm by kevin
In Iraq, a Journalist in Limbo
The title of this post somewhat belies my view.
Perhaps there really is evidence that Associated Press photojournalist Bilal Hussein is an Iraqi insurgent; if so, the U.S. Army should charge him, or at least share some scrap of said evidence with some sort of judicial authority.
Every day that goes by with Bilal Hussein in an Army prison is yet another brick in the castle of suspicion that his detention is not about protecting the public, but about protecting the Army’s image.
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